My Wirral Libraries Facebook review from 2021 #wirlibfilm:
"Although you may not have heard of "Grave of the Fireflies", it’s arguably the greatest (anti-)war film ever made. It’s significant that it was directed by Studio Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata as, unlike his war baby colleague Hayao Miyazaki, he was old enough to have distinct memories of this tragic period of Japanese history. The opening line warns us how tough a watch lies ahead as starving teenage boy Seita says “in…
My Wirral Libraries Facebook review from 2022 #wirlibfilm:
"Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin has established that fans will (relatively) patiently await a long-in-gestation sequel if what went before was good enough. His filmmaking equivalent, Terrence Malick directed nothing between 1978 and 1998 and in the 23 years since has only made seven more films, but he gets away with it because he began his career with two of the very greatest American movies: 1973’s poetic outlaw tale Badlands…
Not the absolute best of Boetticher (which for me would be The Tall T and Ride Lonesome) but I don't think any of the films he made with Randolph Scott are other than good or very good. Without straining for significance they feel substantial, not disposable. I don't know whether that's always true of his non-Scott films but I am particularly keen to see The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond.
My first Stanley Kwan film (apart from the BBC Century of Cinema documentary he did for China - which I can rewatch as it's an extra on this DVD) and it's a winner. I was expecting something like In the Mood for Love and there is a resemblance, but this is a more unpretentiously approachable affair that doesn't seem like it would be insulted were you to compare it to Ghost or Truly, Madly, Deeply. It has a bit of…
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
Can't imagine I'll often give five stars to a film whose greatness I'm so unsure of. Reading the Wikipedia summary I now understand some of the character motivations that only seemed to make sense if I used my familiarity with the many other versions of the Dracula story to fill the gaps - was Eggers relying on audiences doing this or did he just not think it was important to spell everything out? Probably the latter, and plenty of undeniably…
My initial review of this here expresses most of the things I still feel about it but I completely repent of my timidity in denying it the full five stars out of some misguided belief that nothing so lacking in respectability-craving earnestness could be the best film of the year (which for me it is). Josh O'Connor was also in La Chimera, which was very nearly my favourite film of 2023.
